The Tasting:The Fifty Best held a “blind” tasting of 24 American-made unflavored craft vodkas with 14 pre-qualified judges. Strict tasting rules were applied. The order of service was established beforehand by lottery. Each of the domestic vodkas were poured into fresh glasses from new sealed bottles, and served at slightly above room temperature. Only ice water and neutral unflavored nuts and crackers were available to cleanse the palate. The judges tasted through 3 flights of 7 vodkas each and 1 flight of three vodkas.

The judges wrote down their impressions of each product on score sheets. The scoring was done on a 5-point system, with 5 as the best. Double-Gold, Gold and Silver medals were awarded according to a set range of final point scores received from the judges. There were no Bronze medals awarded for this tasting. Due to the high number of top scores from the judges, more Double-Gold medals were awarded than usual. Scores for the Gold Medals were also very close, with 5 vodkas tied with the exact same scores.

The tasting notes that follow are summaries of the judges’ opinions. The states of origin and base ingredients are identified for each brand.